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Clarence Odbody
| aliases = Clarence Oddbody | film = | franchise = | image = | notability = | type = | race = | gender = | base of operations = Heaven | known relatives = | status = | born = 18th century | died = 18th century | 1st appearance = It's a Wonderful Life | final appearance = | actor = Henry Travers }} Clarence Odbody is a fictional angel and a supporting character who appeared in the 1946 family classic, It's a Wonderful Life. He was played by actor Henry Travers. Biography Clarence Odbody was once a human male who lived during the 18th century. Upon his death, he became an Angel second class, which is a human who becomes an angel but has not yet earned their wings. After some two centuries of doing valiant work, Clarence had yet to obtain his wings. His opportunity came in 1946 when the upper echelon angels Michael and Joseph sent Clarence down to Earth to save the life of a man named George Bailey, who was on the verge of suicide. Clarence allowed himself to fall into a river during a cold December blizzard just as George Bailey was about to leap to his death. Oddly, George did jump into the river, but not to kill himself, but rather to save Clarence. After the two were retrieved and cleaned up, Clarence explained his position to George, who naturally didn't believe him. Clarence told him that he had to save George's life in order to earn his wings, even though George was still convinced that it was actually he who had saved Clarence, and not the other way around. At the height of George's frustration he declared, "I wish I'd never been born!", which inspired Clarence to engage in an unorthodox plan. Clarence granted George's wish, and Bailey was metaphysically reborn in a world where he had never previously existed. Everyone he had ever known was either gone or was wholly unrecognizable to him. Due to George's absence from the timeline, his home town of Bedford Falls was no longer the idyllic and quaint community that he had grown up in, but instead was a town of slums and juke joints all run by a man named Henry Potter. As George flailed through the distorted memories of a life that was never his, he gained new-found appreciation for the life he once knew. He begged for everything to return to normal, and Clarence granted this wish as well. George raced home to be with his wife and children. With his soul now having been saved, Clarence earned his wings. It's a Wonderful Life (1946); Directed by Frank Capra. Notes & Trivia * * As a human, Clarence worked as a clock maker prior to his death. * Clarence can't swim. * His favorite book is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. External Links * * Clarence Odbody at the Heroes Wiki References ---- Category:Characters Category:It's a Wonderful Life/Characters Category:Family film characters Category:Holiday film characters Category:1940/Character births Category:Henry Travers/Characters Category:Famous characters Category:Characters with biographies